Government has announced that full scale investigations into the detected breaches in the concession agreement with Power Distribution Services (PDS) will be completed within 30 days.
Information Minister, Kojo Oppong Nkrumah announced this at a press conference in Accra, Thursday.
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He noted that, the team conducting the inquiry comprises insurance investigation experts, officials of the Energy and Finance Ministries, officials of the Electricity Company of Ghana and MIDA.
“The inquiry will determine the nature of the breaches,” the Information Minister stated.
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He further noted that, by Tuesday August 6, 2019, the team is expected in DOHA-Qatar as part of the inquiry.
Below is the full briefing by the Information Minister:
UPDATE ON PDS SUSPENSION
Reference to the Press Statement Issued by the Ministry of Information dated 30th July 2019, on the matter of the suspension of the concession agreement between Government of Ghana and PDS, Government hereby updates the Ghanaian Public as follows;
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1.The full scale inquiry into the detected breaches has commenced and is expected to be completed within 30 days. The team conducting the inquiry comprises insurance investigation experts, officials of the Energy and Finance ministries and officials of the ECG and MIDA as well. The inquiry will determine the nature of the breaches and advise on suggested next steps. By Tuesday, the team is expected in DOHA-Qatar as part of the inquiry. All interested parties are cooperating with the inquiry at this stage.
2.A second team has been tasked to continue engagement with the American government through its agency the Millennium Challenge Corporation. This engagement is about the possible next steps after the inquiry and channels for sharing information as part of this inquiry. That team is expected to also be in the USA possibly next week as part of their engagement.
3.Final efforts to ensure a smooth transition between ECG and PDS officials are proceeding without incident.
4.We reiterate that this breach was discovered by the due diligence of the Ghanaian authorities through ECG and with the support of state agencies.
A.For the avoidance of doubt, the provision of the payment guarantee has always been a condition precedent and was never changed to a condition subsequent as being speculated by some persons.
B. Initial Due Diligence led by the transaction advisors did not detect anything wrong with it.
C.The second level checks (this time led by the Ghana side) initially yielded a response from Al-Koot confirming the guarantee.
D.It was a third level check by the Ghana side that detected anomalies within Al-koot thereby triggering a fourth level check.
E.The fourth level check involved sending an initial team from the Ghana Mission in Qatar to engage with Al-koot officials for further verification. This fourth level further proved the anomalies and suggested untoward action which is now the subject of the full scale inquiry.
5.Government will update all stakeholders on the outcome of the inquiry and proceed in accordance with law and the terms of the agreement as it works towards a final resolution of this matter.